Exclusive: Driver's injury is self-inflicted. This is a false FIR, filed to extort money, says Manish Gupta
. He is known for writing films like Sarkar and SECTION 375, while directing Rahasya, The Stoneman Murders, 420 IPC and One Friday Night.
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Gupta was booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections for allegedly stabbing his driver Mohammed Lashkar with a kitchen knife.
According to Versova police, the incident occurred after an argument over the latter's salary at Gupta's Andheri (west) office at 8.30pm on June 5.
According to a report in TOI, Lashkar, who served as Gupta's driver for three years until his May 30 termination, said his Rs 23,000 salary remained outstanding.
His statement reads: "There has been instances when the film director used to indulge in fight whenever I asked for my salary which was never paid on time. This time he removed me from the job when I asked for my April month's salary which was yet to be paid."
Gupta has categorically dismissed the allegations. In an exclusive interview with Bombay Times, he said, 'It's a false FIR, filed with an intent of extorting money, systematically played out under the guidance of a criminal lawyer.'
He added, 'We are going to initiate criminal proceedings against Lashkar and put him behind bars. I want to expose these false FIRs racket.'
Ahead of narrating the incident, Gupta shared a CCTV footage of the driver leaving the building premises (his back facing the camera) with Bombay Times and documents that reveal his advance salary claim to Lashkar as well as the driver's speeding tickets for rash driving. Gupta explained, 'He has been working for me for three years.
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On June 5, around 8.30 pm in my office, he started this bawaal to provoke me. It was very illogical.
He wanted to quit my job. I had paid him an advance (Rs 41,500), which was much more than his monthly salary. This has been acknowledged by him on paper. I told him, if you're quitting, obviously the advance is going to be deducted from your salary. That didn't go down well with him, and this was his way of extorting money from me.
I asked him to drop my car keys and leave. He left in a lift and while exiting the lift, held his hand over his stomach as if he was covering a wound, no blood stain is visible in the CCTV footage. The other footage which captures him walking away, shows how normal he seems while walking away. I am sure he went to his people, inflicted a harmless injury to himself and then went to the cops at 2 am. Why didn't he go to the cops directly? He tried to create this chain of events.
When the cops came over to my office the next day to investigate, they also called him, he's walking, holding his stomach, taking the support of some other guy, and he's walking half a step at a time. His actions looked staged. The cops didn't find any kitchen knife because I don't have a kitchen in my office. You just get tea, coffee, biscuits. He needed the money badly for his house and daughter's education and on humanitarian grounds, I gave him the advance, and this is how he repays me.'
Gupta concludes, 'I have given my statement to the police. The evidence that I showed you, has also been given to the police. In a nutshell, this is a false FIR, filed with an intention of extorting money. It has been systematically played out under guidance of a criminal lawyer. My lawyer is
, and we are going to initiate criminal proceedings against this person. The CCTV footage of seconds after the incident clearly shows he is walking very normally, very casually and not at all like a person who has been attacked with a knife as he is claiming. It is very clear evidence of his lying, and he has inflicted this injury later on himself in order to build some sort of circumstance to file a false FIR. I want to expose this false FIRs racket.
'
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